Alex Pereira and Sean O’Malley had fairly different outcomes in their respective UFC Freedom 250 bouts, with the latter offering up an intriguing behind-the-scenes quip regarding the former from the pre-fight build. While Pereira fell short against Ciryl Gane in a bid to become the UFC’s first-ever three-division champion, the loss was not without controversy, as is seemingly customary these days with the newly minted two-time UFC interim heavyweight champ Gane.
Sean O’Malley secured a highlight reel finish over Aiemann Zahabi in his June 14th bout and also took time to cover the illegal strikes that were landed to the back of the head by Gane during the finishing sequence in his Pereira bout. During a conversation with MMA Guru in the aftermath of the UFC’s White House-based card, with the excerpt of the clip posted to X account @Home_of_Fight, O’Malley said,
“You know what’s funny, in the rules meeting when [Alex] Pereira was talking to the ref, they were having the translator go over like back of the head [strikes]. Because I remember when Gane finished [JDS]… Elbowing him in the back of the head. But [JDS] was kind of turning away, so…. That’s why they were talking about back of the head.”
Alex Pereira sounds off on Gane and the appointed UFC Freedom 250 referee for the back-of-the-head strikes
Blasting not just his opponent, Ciryl Gane, but also the assigned referee for the title bout, Herb Dean, in the wake of his loss inside the octagon at the White House on Sunday. In a video posted to his personal YouTube account, with a clip taken from X user @ChampRDS, Alex Pereira stated,
“It was a lucky jab and he took advantage… that was the opportunity of a lifetime for him. This guy has a long history of it. Dirty shots, punches to the back of the head. I brought that up with [the referee] ahead of time and asked him to keep an eye on it… if you watch the footage man, multiple shots, multiple elbows [to the back of the head]. [The referee] is not a man. He shouldn’t have been refereeing that fight. A guy like that should be punished.”